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Will petrolheads turn over a new Leaf?

Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn is certain that drivers will be converted to electric cars, Leo Lewis writes from Yokohama

December 20 2010, 12:01am, The Times

Carlos Ghosn speaks with an evangelical fervour about the electric Leaf, the quieter sibling of the GT-RToshiyuki Aizawa/Reuters

At the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, when the sheets were triumphantly flung off the Nissan GT-R, Carlos Ghosn’s voice was barely audible over the revs of a snorting engine. “You hear that?” he bellowed to the petrol faithful. “Listen to the roar of success!”

Two weeks ago, Nissan’s Brazilian-born Lebanese president was back in a similarly joyous binge of car salesmanship, but with one crucial difference. This time the new toy was an all-electric, reasonably priced family car, and the noise had to be added artificially.

The launch of the Nissan Leaf is a clear statement of intent by Mr Ghosn — possibly the clearest he has made in a decade running the Japanese carmaker and its alliance with Renault. He is describing seismic changes. Dependence…